Date of Award

5-2012

Access Control

Open Access

Degree Name

Creative Studies, M.S.

Department

International Center for Studies in Creativity

Advisor

Gerard J. Puccio

Department Home page

http://creativity.buffalostate.edu/

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to prepare and carry out a formal action study documenting the design, delivery and evaluation of an undergraduate course that emphasized the development of students’ understanding of creative thinking and the Creative Problem Solving process. This research project focused on a specific course that was available to junior and senior students at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The title of the course was “Applications of Creativity and Creative Problem Solving” and the course was offered by the Department of Educational Psychology. This project contains an investigation of selected literature sources that could serve as key texts for such a course in creativity and Creative Problem Solving. Detailed annotations were developed based on a set of specific criteria. The annotations summarize the key elements covered in the text, as well a point out potential challenges that might arise from the use of the text as a textbook for a creativity course. The two qualitative analysis methods that were used in order to reach the recommendations and conclusions for this study were Within-Site Analysis and Cross-Site Analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The author of this work, who served as instructor for the course, took detailed journal entries; detailing the design, delivery and evaluation of each class. Three major pieces of data were collected and analyzed as part of the final Cross-Site Analysis: lesson plans from each class, the journal that was kept about the design, delivery and evaluation of each class and the Within-Site Analysis that was performed for each class day. Lastly, overall learning points were developed from the Cross-Site Analysis performed across all the Within-Site Summaries. For the Cross-Site Analysis the writer looked at all three sections (Design, Delivery and Evaluation) of each Within-Site Summary; noting common threads that happened across all the class days. From this analysis, overall insights were developed into Key Learning Points that have the potential of impacting the future design and delivery of related courses on creativity and Creative Problem Solving.

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